The late Penn State coach Joe Paterno wielded a heavy stick on campus—and used email at times to do so.

The Chronicle of Higher Education obtained emails exchanged in 2007 between Paterno and former president Graham Spanier that illustrate Paterno’s influence as it pertained to team disciplinary issues. The documents were obtained through a source close to the Jerry Sandusky investigation and appear to show a comfort with email that is contrary to comments made by Paterno’s representatives in recent weeks.

In a CNN report last week, documents showed that Paterno persuaded school administrators, including athletic director Tim Curley, to not report Sandusky, suspected at the time of child molestation, to child welfare services. Paterno family attorneys suggested that the coach did not use email and did not play a role in influencing university investigations.

This latest report, from The Chronicle, shows that the coach fought to handle issues with players internally, and that he communicated those wishes, at least in this instance, through email.

In 2007, numerous Penn State players were involved in an off-campus fight. Paterno wrote to Spanier and Curley using an email account used by the coach’s assistant, Sandi Segursky.

“I want to make sure everyone understand that the discipline of the players involved will be handled by me as soon as I am comfortable that I know all the facts,” Paterno wrote in the April email.

Spanier responded: “This is my understanding as well.”

Vicky Triponey, formerly the vice president of student affairs and whose department was investigating the fights, was copied on the correspondence.

She replied in part: “Thanks for sharing. I assume he is talking about discipline relative to TEAM rules (note: he does not say that). Obviously discipline relative to the law is up to the police and the courts, and discipline relative to violations of the student code of conduct is the responsibility of Judicial Affairs.

“This has not always been clear with Coach Paterno so we might want to clarify that and encourage him to work with us to find the truth and handle this collaboratively with the police and the university.”

Ultimately, the student affairs office facilitated interviews with players. Criminal charges were filed against six players and two pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, according to the Wall Street Journal last year. Four players were suspended and none missed playing time.

The Chronicle added that Paterno also levied punishment: The whole team had to perform community service hours and also spent two hours cleaning up the stadium after every home game that fall.